State Briefs 8/26/09

PEORIA – A 20-foot section of a downtown building’s facade fell to the ground early Wednesday morning.

About 6:40 a.m., brick and lumber facade at 234 NE Madison Ave. fell to the sidewalk not far from where the building intersects with Fayette Street.

The building, owned by Randy and Diane Africano, is home to offices for OSF Saint Francis Medical Center employees, including Children’s Hospital of Illinois advocacy, a surgery pre-admission clinic and accounts payable. No one was injured, and the building remained open for business.

Until the exterior of the building could be further inspected, firefighters blocked off the sidewalk and parking along that side of the street.

Peoria Journal Star

Woman crashes car into Peoria Civic Center

PEORIA — A 68-year-old woman attempting to park near the Peoria Civic Center said her accelerator stuck, causing her to careen into the side of the building's glass atrium Wednesday morning.

Sally Wagner, 68, of Peoria was ticketed for unsafe equipment and failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident.

Wagner told police she was driving on Fulton about 11 a.m., having just stopped at a stop sign at Fulton and Madison, and was backing up to park in a space when the accelerator stuck and she began going backward too fast.

Her Toyota Camry drove over the curb, struck a parking meter, a small tree and a lamppost before hitting the atrium connected to the Civic Center and shattering several panes of glass.

Pekin Police investigators Dennis Franks and Mike Sanders said the people were arrested for “smurfing” – going from one store to the next to purchase pseudoephedrine to sell to meth cooks for money or for the drug itself — since January.

Sixteen of those arrests came in the past two weeks. All of the suspects were arrested on suspicion of possession of methamphetamine precursors.

In 2005, state laws began limiting the amount of cold relief medication containing the ingredient pseudoephedrine that could be sold over the counter to two packages at one time. Local police departments are able to track excessive purchases of the medications by people at different stores through pharmacy records.

Pekin Daily Times

Prosecutor argues against change of venue for murder suspect

GALESBURG – Both defense and prosecuting attorneys of a Sterling man awaiting trial for the murder of a Galesburg man have previously gone on record supporting moving the trial to another county.

But in a response filed Friday by Knox County State’s Attorney John Pepmeyer, the state is now arguing to keep Nicholas Sheley’s trial in Knox County.

Sheley is charged with the 2008 murder of Ronald Randall of Galesburg and faces murder charges in seven other deaths in Whiteside County and Missouri. He faces the death penalty if convicted.

In a response to a defense motion to move Sheley’s trial due to heavy pre-trial publicity, the state argues the majority of publicity cited in the defense motion is now over a year old, making it “stale and irrelevant.” Sheley’s trial is scheduled for summer of 2010 at the earliest, making the cited publicity two years old.

The motion also argues that during polling of 850 Knox County residents gauging their level of knowledge and bias about Sheley’s case, 250 respondents were eliminated from the polling after they said they knew nothing about the case. Those 250 are described by the state as “ideal prospective jurors.”

The state is asking Ninth Circuit Judge James Stewart to deny the change of venue motion or defer the ruling due to insufficient data. A hearing on the change of venue is scheduled for Nov. 6.

Galesburg Register-Mail

Man arrested in 2-year-old’s death

LINCOLN – A man suspected of killing 2-year-old Lucas Tyler Alberts of Lincoln has been arrested.

Illinois State Police arrested Ty C. Cline, 38, of Lincoln at 11 a.m. Wednesday at a relative’s house in Bloomington.

Cline had been in a relationship with the child’s mother, Jody Alberts, and was watching Lucas on Saturday, the night before his mother took him to the hospital.

Logan County State’s Attorney Michael McIntosh said Cline is being charged with felony murder and aggravated battery of a child. If convicted, Cline could serve at least 20 years in prison.

Peoria County Coroner Johnna Ingersoll said Jody found Lucas lying in bed lethargic at around 5:40 a.m. Sunday. At about 6:30 a.m., Lincoln Police were notified that Lucas had been brought in a private vehicle to Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital in Lincoln with severe injuries.

Lucas died on Monday at 2:28 p.m. An autopsy conducted Tuesday in Peoria determined that Lucas had died of non-accidental blunt force trauma to the head.

Lincoln Courier

Teen seriously injured after stealing, crashing truck

PEORIA – Less than a week after being arrested in a burglary, a 13-year-old Peoria boy was involved in a truck theft that left his alleged accomplice with serious leg injuries.

Peoria police responded about 11:40 p.m. Tuesday to a call of two trucks being stolen from Behr Peoria. The 13-year-old suspects apparently had attempted to drive off in a pickup and a fuel truck, but the one boy drove only a short distance before bailing out of the fuel truck and getting into the pickup.

A Behr employee got into the fuel truck and began following the pickup until seeing a police officer driving toward the scene. The employee pointed police in the direction of the stolen pickup, police said.

Police searched the area and eventually came upon the pickup rolled on its side and on fire in an alley. Smoke was pouring out of the hood and the trapped boy was screaming, police said.

The officers used a fire extinguisher to douse the fire. Firefighters arrived to continue tending to the fire and to extricate the boy. It was not clear if the trapped suspect was the driver or passenger.

The other suspect fled but was later located. Both were taken to OSF Saint Francis Medical Center. One was treated and released before being transported to juvenile detention, and the other was in serious condition at St. Francis on Wednesday.

According to police, the boy who fled the crash scene was among three teens arrested Aug. 20 following the burglary of Griswold Food and Liquor.

Peoria Journal Star

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